Guardians of Wealth
85% of the world’s wealth is owned by 10% of the population.
Imagine for a moment! Our wealth is not “ours” but rather we have, by good fortune of one kind or another, the privilege of being its custodian. We can delight in it, enjoy it and it may comfort us. We may also have more than we need for our personal uses and this “excess wealth” we have the freedom to manage how we choose. Now, do we put it to work where it can get the highest return to further enlarge our pot of excess wealth, or do we see our role as being “Guardians of Wealth” and consider how it may be wisely used for the greater good? Because if 85% of the world’s wealth is being utilised with the intention of growth alone, it is likely in most instances to leave 90% of the world with insufficient resources and yet having to suffer the consequences of that wealth’s activity – most obviously climate change.
What if successful entrepreneurs are gifted wealth creators like artists and farmers – only they create money where others create music, poetry and food? Music lives only when it is shared; poetry when it is heard; and food decays if not distributed according to need. So, what about money?
Chuck Feeney came to be one of the world’s richest ultra-high net worth individuals making his money from dominance in the duty free market selling luxury goods to travellers that burgeoned through the 60s and kept growing. As one of the early modern day philanthropists and perhaps the exemplar, he gave away his entire wealth of around $8 billion in his lifetime. There were no strings to his giving. No business model to ensure benefit returned to him in another way. Indeed, most was given away secretly and it was only late on that his philanthropic activities became known about.
“I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living – to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition” said Chuck Feeney. “More importantly, today’s needs are so great and varied that intelligent philanthropic support and positive interventions can have greater value and impact today than if they are delayed when the needs are greater.”
He gave away his last $7m in 2016, whilst living in a rented flat with his wife in San Francisco. He died in 2022.
Chuck Feeney in giving his wealth away exemplified the concept of guardianship and wealth as a universal resource created by humanity for humanity.
Philanthropy can take many forms and is often unseen. It may not mean giving wealth away – but rather mean wealth being employed in a manner whereby the beneficiaries are more widespread and humanity more broadly is supported rather than exploited.
As Guardians of Wealth, whether private or business, the skill is to choose wisely, ways in which wealth can be employed for a more common purpose – whether as investment or as enterprise.
Wealth is also a fickle companion especially in times of great change – the ebbs and flows of fortune and nature ensure that there is a constant flow of losers following gainers. The secret perhaps is to recognise the privileged opportunity to make a difference with our wealth while we still have it and are able to do so.
In addition to increasing concentration of wealth in plain numbers there is also a growing generational divide and for the first time in recent history the expectation is that the next generation will not be as prosperous as our own – the baby boomers in particular. When the UK government pension was first introduced there were 20 working adults for every pensioner – now there are just 3! Nearly 30% of people over the age of 65 in the UK live in millionaire households – where the household wealth is over £1,000,000 (Intergenerational Foundation). In 2010, those under 40 held just £7.53 of every £100 of wealth. Over the past decade, this has fallen significantly to only £3.98 (ILCUK). Just as it doesn’t require a meteorologist to identify rain, so it doesn’t require an economist to cognise this situation as being unsustainable and not good for society as a whole.
Nick Hanauer who describes himself as an unrepentant capitalist in his 2014 TED talk entitled “Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming” said “Growing inequality is about to push our societies into conditions resembling pre-revolutionary France.” He also said “Capitalism is the greatest social technology ever invented for creating prosperity in human societies, if it is well managed. But capitalism, because of the fundamental multiplicative dynamics of complex systems, tends towards, inexorably, inequality, concentration and collapse”.
Chuck Feeney was a capitalist who recognised that “Now” was the moment to make an impact, have a lot of fun in doing so and use the wisdom accumulated during his lifetime to ensure that his wealth served a greater purpose. How better to ensure that than to disperse it before he left … a free spirit … just as when he first arrived.
Given the situation in which humanity now finds itself, and the multiplicity of urgent needs, it is reasonable to ask how the wealth there is on the planet can be employed for the greater good.
And as leaders can we ask ourselves how, as guardians of wealth, in whatever form (material, expertise, experience etc), we can best serve a higher purpose for humanity?
Greg Suart